Much in the same way as we use shredders to destroy documents that are no longer useful or that contain potentially damaging information, cells use molecular machines to degrade unwanted or defective macromolecules. Scientists ...

When egg and sperm combine, the new embryo bustles with activity. Its cells multiply so rapidly they largely ignore their DNA, other than to copy it and to read just a few essential genes. The embryonic cells mainly rely ...

A study investigating the function of the recently discovered enhancer RNA molecules may open new avenues for gene therapy. According to the study researchers, altering the production and function of these molecules could ...

Before messenger RNA molecules can be translated into amino acids and eventually functional proteins, the primary gene transcripts must be spliced to remove non-coding sequences. Misato Ohtani from the RIKEN Center for Sustainable ...

RNA editing gives organisms a way to adapt the instructions that their DNA provides for making proteins. Few people would have described RNA editing as a simple process, but a new paper in Nature Communications demonstrates ...

Male fruit flies have one X chromosome per cell, females have two. So genes on the male X must work twice as hard to produce the same amount of protein as its female counterparts. An LMU team has found a new switch involved ...

X chromosomes are very special genetic material. They differ in number between men and women. To achieve equality between sexes, one out of two X chromosomes in women is silenced. In flies, the opposite happens: in male flies, ...

Proteins are typically encoded by linear strands of messenger RNA (mRNA). These mRNA molecules are translated into polypeptide chains by ribosomes, with each ribosomal read-through of the mRNA generating a single, discrete ...

Every cell in an organism's body has the same copy of DNA, yet different cells do different things; for example, some function as brain cells, while others form muscle tissue. How can the same DNA make different things happen? ...